Edgar Payne Books?

**Andrew Sonea** · February 22nd, 2013, 01:07 AM

So I love Edgar Payne's work a LOT. And I have heard nothing but amazing things about his book Composition of Outdoor Painting. The thing is, I usually order books from amazon.ca but they only have used copies and it runs $100+. Not gonna drop that much cash on a single book at the moment.

I have come across a couple other sites that sell it, but it always is about $50 (not even including the shipping to Canada, which I imagine is kinda pricey)...which seems ludicrously expensive for a tiny book that doesn't even have half of it's images in colour. The sites I've come across are the following:
http://www.derusfinearts.com/books.asp
http://irvinemuseum.pinnaclecart.com...ed-in-1941-hb/

Anyone know of any other way I might get it cheaper? Is this book really worth the amount it would cost me?

Also, I was wondering if anyone has his Scenic Journey book, or some of the ones available from the two sites I linked regarding American/Californian Impressionists. If so, what do you think of them? There are a lot of books there that look like they potentially have some brilliant art, but I am hesitant to blindly spend money on them.

**QueenGwenevere** · February 22nd, 2013, 01:38 AM

Out of print books are always going to be hard to find cheap. Have you tried AbeBooks?... http://www.abebooks.com/

I've found some pretty good used book bargains there before. Although they come and go, so if they don't have any good deals on the book you want right now, you might have to keep checking back periodically.

**Andrew Sonea** · February 22nd, 2013, 02:32 AM

Originally Posted by QueenGwenevere

Out of print books are always going to be hard to find cheap. Have you tried AbeBooks?... http://www.abebooks.com/

I've found some pretty good used book bargains there before. Although they come and go, so if they don't have any good deals on the book you want right now, you might have to keep checking back periodically.

Thanks! Never heard of that site before. Unfortunately even the cheapest one on there was a good 60$ once you factor in shipping to Canada. Not sure I'm ready to spend that on a tiny book...I'll have to think it over a bit. Also unfortunate was that the handful of other out of print books that I know I want (at least off the top of my head) weren't available on there at all.

I did however see the Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey on there for a mere $36 (that's including shipping cost!). Since that is like half of the price I've been seeing elsewhere for that book before the shipping, and since the reviews on amazon.com for it are raving about the book so much, I caved in an impulse bought it!

So thanks again, I hopefully will be the happy owner of a new art book

I definitely have an art book addiction...I need to reorganize my bookshelf because the shelves I set aside for art books is not enough and I now have art books lying in piles on my desk and all over my floor haha!

EDIT: Thought I'd add in the link here in case anyone else is interested in buying it

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Book...Dedgar%2Bpayne

**JeffX99** · February 26th, 2013, 08:27 PM

"Composition of Outdoor Painting" isn't out of print, but it is generally only available through DeRus Fine Arts - at about the $50 price. It is pretty much considered one of those "must haves" or at least must reads by most outdoor painters - the ones I like and have studied with at least. "Scenic Journey" is the giant catalog book that accompanies the current traveling exhibit - definitely worth a day's travel to see in person if you like Payne.

**Andrew Sonea** · February 27th, 2013, 04:21 AM

Originally Posted by JeffX99

"Composition of Outdoor Painting" isn't out of print, but it is generally only available through DeRus Fine Arts - at about the $50 price. It is pretty much considered one of those "must haves" or at least must reads by most outdoor painters - the ones I like and have studied with at least. "Scenic Journey" is the giant catalog book that accompanies the current traveling exhibit - definitely worth a day's travel to see in person if you like Payne.

So it's worth spending 50$ plus shipping for it? To be honest I don't do a lot of outdoor painting...I go a few times in the summer and not at all in the winter (it's cold out in Canada!). I assumed that the book would have information though that would be useful for landscape painting/composition in general. How much of it applies to studio painting vs plein air?

And it would be a bit out of my way to see the exhibit on Payne...about 2000 kilometers out of my way haha. Would love to see it though! The exhibit book will have to do I guess. Shame the shipping on it is so slow, I'm not supposed to have it arrive for about another month

**JeffX99** · February 27th, 2013, 02:32 PM

IDK - hard to say if it's worth it. Can you get it through a library loan situation? The book is very poorly organized with example illustrations far from descriptive text. It also includes a bunch of crappy paintings by his wife/daughter Elsie Payne? (I forget which). I'm just saying it is a book all the top guys I know of are familiar with and refer to on occasion. But there are other books on outdoor painting that would provide more bang for the buck - "Carlosn't Guide to Landscape Painting" for instance - any Carl Rungius book (though not technique oriented) - "Alla Prima" by Schmid, etc.